Sagi Muki

Sagi Aharon Muki (or Moki; ; born 17 May 1992) is a retired Muki is the 2019 World Champion. He also won the 2015 and 2018 European championships. In the 2020 Tokyo Olympics mixed team event, Muki was a member of the Israeli team that won a bronze medal.

In August 2011, Muki won the European Cup U20 in Berlin in the under 73 kilogram (161-pound) category. He won gold medals in February 2013 at the European Open in Tbilisi, Georgia, in June 2013 at the European Open Tallinn, and in October 2013 at the European Open Minsk in the under 73 weight class. He won the 2014 Baku Grand Slam in Azerbaijan in the under 73 kg category, and the following month he won another IJF World Tour gold medal, this time at the 2014 Havana Grand Prix in the under 73 kg category.

Muki is a two-time Israeli judo champion. In June 2015, representing Israel at the 2015 European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan, he won the gold medal and the European championship in judo in the under 73 kg weight class. Competing for Israel at the 2016 Summer Olympics he came in 5th place in the men's 73 kg event. He was ranked No. 1 in the world in March 2019.

Muki represented Israel at the 2024 Paris Olympics in judo in the men's 81 kg event, and came in ninth, and in the mixed team event, in which Team Israel came in ninth.

Biography Muki was born and raised in Netanya, Israel, to a family of Yemenite-Jewish descent. His parents are Rahamim and Orit Muki, who were born in Netanya; his grandparents were born in Yemen, and made aliyah.

At the age of eight, he chose to focus on judo, which he had been practicing for four years, despite excelling in football for a Netanya junior soccer team, and also playing basketball and soccer. He served in the Israel Defense Forces as a Sergeant in the Vehicle Division at the Sde Dov airbase. He is a student at Reichman University, with a double major in Economics and Business Administration, and in the school's hall of fame.

Judo career From the age of four, Muki has been coached by Israeli judoka Oren Smadja, who won the Olympic bronze medal in the men's 71 kg weight category in judo at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. Smadja is also the national team coach, and Muki views Smadja as a fatherly figure. His club is Maccabi Netanya, and he met future Israeli judoka world champion Yarden Gerbi there when he was four years old.

2011–14; World #2 In April Muki came in fifth in the 2011 World Juniors Championships in the under 73-kilogram (161-pound) category. In August 2011 Muki won the European Cup U20 in Berlin in the under 73 kg category. In September, he came in third in the 2011 European Junior Championships in Lommel, Belgium, in the under 73 kg category. In December 2012, he won the Israeli Championships in the under category in Ra'anana, Israel.

Muki won a gold medal at the European Open in February 2013 in Tbilisi, Georgia in the under 73 kg category. He also won gold medals at the European Open Tallinn in June 2013, and the European Open Minsk in October 2013 in the under 73 weight class. He won the Israeli Championship in the under 81 kg category in Ra'anana, Israel in December 2013.

In May, Muki won the 2014 Baku Grand Slam in Azerbaijan in the under 73 kg category. In June, he won another IJF World Tour gold medal, at the 2014 Havana Grand Prix in the under 73 kg category. In October 2014, he was ranked number three in the world in his weight class, and in May 2015 he had moved up to number two in the world.

2015; European Champion In June 2015, representing Israel at the 2015 European Games in judo in the under 73 kg category in Baku, Muki won the first gold medal for Israel in the inaugural European Games, and in doing so won the 2015 European Championships. In the quarterfinals he defeated then-reigning European champion Dex Elmont of the Netherlands.

In October, Muki won a bronze medal in the 2015 Paris Grand Slam after defeating Shuai Sun from China. Two weeks later on 31 October, he won a bronze medal in the 2015 Abu Dhabi Grand Slam after defeating Belgian Dirk Van Tichelt.

2016 Rio Olympics In August 2016, Muki competed for the first time in his career for Israel at the 2016 Summer Olympics at the age of 24, two months after suffering two slipped discs in his lower back.

2017–18; European Champion On 7 October, Muki competed at the 2017 Tashkent Grand Prix, his first competition since the 2016 olympics, and won the gold medal.

On 27 April, Muki took part in the 2018 European Championships in Tel Aviv and won the gold medal in the under 81 kg weight category.

2019; World Champion

At the 2019 World Championships in Tokyo, Muki became world champion when he won the gold medal in the under 81 kg weight category. Coming to the competition, Muki was ranked 2nd in the world and 5 out of his 6 matches that day, he won by ippon. He won his first 4 matches by ippon and in the semi-final he defeated Mohamed Abdelaal of Egypt by waza-ari. In the final, Muki faced Matthias Casse of Belgium and won by ippon due to 2 waza-ari scores.

2020 Tokyo Olympics (in 2021); bronze medal Muki represented Israel at the 2020 Summer Olympics, competing at the men's 81 kg weight category. After beating 2017 Pan American champion, Brazilian Eduardo Yudy Santos, in his first match, Muki lost to Austrian Shamil Borchashvili in the round of 16, ending his part of the individual contest. In the mixed team event, Muki was a member of the Israeli team that won a bronze medal.

2021–present Muki won a bronze medal in 2021 World Masters, held in Doha, Qatar. He also won a bronze medal at the 2021 European Championships in Portugal.

Muki won gold medals at the 2023 Zagreb Grand Prix in Croatia and the 2023 Tel Aviv Grand Slam.

Muki won a bronze medal at the 2024 Tbilisi Grand Slam in Georgia. He also represented Israel in the mixed team event, in which Team Israel came in ninth. His coach, Oren Smadja, on his birthday had suffered the loss of his son Omer, a reservist, in battle in Gaza in the Gaza war a month earlier, and Muki said: "I've been with Oren since I was 5 years old; he's like a second father to me. The recent tragedy deeply affected me. In the first days after learning what happened, I couldn't find the strength to train, but I pulled myself together and turned this into motivation. For Omer and for all the brave soldiers, it was important to me not to give up."

Retirement On 16 February 2026, Muki announced his retirement from competitive judo.

Titles Source:

2017